Rolling out the Redd:Celebrating the launchof our new food campus

On December 3, Ecotrust welcomed more than 300 friends and food movement makers to our winter gala to celebrate the launch of the Redd on Salmon Street, our exciting new venture in Portland's Central Eastside Industrial District to build a hub for a new food economy. Thank you to everyone who came out for this special event — and to those who missed it, we hope to see you next time!

In a welcome address, Ecotrust founder Spencer Beebe reminisced about the genesis of our headquarters — the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center — a once similarly dilapidated 100-year-old warehouse in Portland’s Pearl District, which today stands as a landmark green building and home to over a dozen mission-aligned businesses. If the Natural Capital Center is, as Spencer described, “the living room for the new economy,” then the Redd on Salmon Street is imagined as “the kitchen.”

Kat Taylor, founder and CEO of Beneficial State Bank, passionate food systems advocate and rancher, and Vice Chair of Ecotrust’s Board of Directors was emcee for the evening.

Naomi Starkman, founder and editor of Civil Eats, and 2015-2016 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University gave a keynote address on the future of food, remarking that “there’s never been a better time for capitalizing on the growing interest in food. But, what else will it take to transform our food system into one that delivers healthy, sustainable, affordable food for all? A key and often overlooked lever for seizing this momentum is the infrastructure needed to help move food from where it’s grown and processed to where it’s consumed.”

Cory Carman, Owner-Operator of Carman Ranch in Wallowa County, Oregon, addresses the crowd about the challenges mid-size producers face

Ecotrust's Director of Investment Strategy, Nathan Kadish, revisits a presentation on the Redd on Salmon Street that won this year's SXSW Eco Place by Design competition for Resilience.

Ecotrust's Sam Beebe delights in seeing the Redd all dressed up for the evening.

Guests peruse an installation on the making of the Redd - past, present, and future.

About the Redd on Salmon Street

The Redd is a new Ecotrust development located on a two-block campus in the heart of Portland’s historic Central Eastside. We envision the Redd as a hub to nurture and scale a robust regional food economy — a cradle for food businesses, distributors, and educators who are committed to the long-term health of Northwest farmlands, soil, water, and communities. The Redd offers both the infrastructure and amenities essential to a growing enterprise, as well as a vibrant community where urban food producers connect with the rural farmers, ranchers, and fishers that supply them.

The Redd is founded on the belief that creative food producers can work in concert with farmers, ranchers, and fishers to increase demand for regional food whose production not only does not deplete, but regenerates the soil, water, and air, while at the same time creating delicious, healthy food that is affordable and accessible to everyone. Exciting as it is imperative, increased collaboration between urban and rural producers is the way forward for a viable and resilient food system, and essential for the restoration of our soil, water, and farmlands.